Warmth
by freezep0p
Summary: "It takes two people to create a universe, after all..." Shannon/Jessica & Shannon/Battler, spoilers for EP7.


It was evenings like this, thought Shannon, that made her time on Rokkenjima endurable.

Natsuhi and Krauss were away on some sort of family business, leaving the mansion effectively deserted. However, it was a peculiar sort of emptiness that brought forth an unexpected feeling of relief to the maid, who had gone up to visit Jessica's room for the evening. Natsuhi had always adamantly protested to the idea of any of the servants becoming too friendly with her daughter, but given that Shannon was the only one on the island close to her age, it was only natural that the two had been drawn to one another.

Jessica would display an awkward sort of authority towards the servants under the eyes of her mother, but Shannon couldn't exactly hold it against the younger girl, who would often mouth frantic apologies just as Natsuhi looked away. Sometimes, Shannon entertained the thought that Natsuhi purposely turned a blind eye to their friendship – especially those late-night "cleaning sessions" that would sometimes turn into slumber parties – but most likely, she was just genuinely out of touch with her daughter's life. The thought made Shannon's heart sink a little, but at least Jessica had the luxury of having a mother to disappoint.

She bit her lip at the thought, almost as if scorning herself for her unwarranted contempt.

"Shannon, why'd you stop~?" whined Jessica, stretching her arms out across the mattress that the two girls were situated upon. Shannon blinked, staring at the brush resting in her hand with a slightly dazed expression.

"Ah… s-sorry! I was just… thinking," she replied, as her voice trailed off into a faint murmur. She paused momentarily, suddenly realizing the suspicious ambiguity of the statement. But before she could correct herself, Jessica leaned forward with a sly smile.

"Thinking about… George?" she teased, and Shannon's face turned a light shade of crimson. She was a little off the mark, of course, but Shannon decided to play along and bashfully averted her eyes.

Jessica giggled mischievously, evidently taking Shannon's reaction as a sufficient enough answer. Although the maid felt somewhat inclined to protest against the blonde's smirk, she merely continued to brush the other girl's hair without giving her the satisfaction of a response. The blonde shuddered at the sensation, pondering whether or not she should pursue the subject. She soon dismissed the idea with a relaxed sigh, eyelids fluttering amidst the brush's soothing touch.

Jessica continued talking about her day – something about a fight with a band mate, and how she was worried that Natsuhi might be suspicious about her daughter's "secret life" at school. Shannon couldn't help but smile wryly at the idea, with the corners of her lips pursed into an unreadable sort of expression.

"Ahaha… there's something weird about me, isn't there?" Jessica suddenly asked, with a trace of uncertainty lingering at the tip of her words. Her face flushed a little as she quickly tried to cover up the sentimentality of her question with a nervous laugh. It was likely that Jessica herself didn't notice, but her ears always seemed to turn red when she was embarrassed. Shannon couldn't help but find it somewhat endearing, almost like a "weak point" only the bearer was unaware of.

"Of course not, milady," Shannon replied, just as a servant should. Unfortunately, the formalities behind her sentiment neglected to go unnoticed.

"You're just saying that," Jessica mumbled, abruptly rising from her bed and walking towards her dresser mirror. "It's my hair, isn't it? I always wear it in a ponytail, and all the guys think I'm such a tomboy…"

"Nonsense," assured Shannon, "You're wonderful enough the way you are."

"Or my nose. It's a little crooked… I always thought it wasn't so noticeable, but maybe I—"

Shannon playfully placed a hand upon the other girl's shoulder, cutting off Jessica's stream of thought in the process. Her gesture was slightly awkward; the slight hesitance in her informality might have even appeared forced, from the eyes of any sort of spectator. But she smiled softly, and her smile was genuine.

"You have someone you like, don't you?"

Jessica quickly glanced down, vainly attempting to avert eye contact by covering her face with her bangs.

"Is it a boy from your school…?" she asked, trying to recall if Jessica had mentioned anyone in particular in the past few weeks. She briefly glanced away, running the pair's more recent conversations through her mind in hopes of finding some sort of clue. However, before she could collect her thoughts, she felt a weak, almost pitiful, tug at her sleeve.

"… Jessica?"

And suddenly, her lips were met with Shannon's own in an almost surprisingly soft manner, given the young heir's rough exterior. Shannon had almost expected something slightly more… forceful, perhaps, but the blonde merely melted beneath her touch. Jessica's hands trailed cautiously down the embroidery clinging to Shannon's waist, fingers entangled by their intangible threads of innocence and desperation.

Somehow, they had both ended up sprawled out upon the bed, almost as though too overcome by a mix of incoherent emotions to acknowledge how they got into such a position in the first place. However, this uncertainty was quickly pushed aside as Jessica rekindled the kiss with slightly more confidence. The blonde paused a moment, repositioning herself over the brunette as she mumbled a plea that Shannon couldn't quite make out.

Shannon's head spun as she ran her fingers through the other girl's hair, perhaps with a bit too much pull, as Jessica consequently let out a quiet squeak. She briefly wondered how long they had been like this. Minutes? Seconds? As they delved into a steady sort of rhythm, time almost seemed to fade into obscurity.

Despite the many times Shannon had lied awake at night, fighting off slumber with forlorn fantasies of her unrequited love, she couldn't help but feel as there had always been something missing. Of course, time continued flowing onward, and she was no longer the same girl who waited impatiently by the dock for Battler's return. But for some reason, the sunburns of that distant summer morning had neglected to fade, still lingering in her mind as afterthoughts on a cool pillow.

… That was it. The warmth of Jessica's body pressed against her own.

She hadn't expected the warmth.

'_It takes two people to create a universe, after all…'_

Fear suddenly overtook Shannon. She wrestled with her thoughts, her desires, stumbling backwards off the bed in a disoriented frenzy. Panic drowned out her mind's futile attempts to smother the flames of her confusion, leaving Jessica in a bewildered disarray.

"I-I'm sorry!" Jessica breathlessly stammered, eyes widening as the reality of her actions gradually began to sink in, "I don't know what I was thinking! I didn't mean to…"

She paused, trying to sort out her thoughts.

"I was just being stupid," she said, "We can just forget about the entire thing, if you want."

Shannon opened her mouth to speak, to apologize, to tell Jessica that she wasn't at fault, to tell her everything. Nothing escaped from her lips but a deafening silence. She brought a hand to her chest in a frightened stupor, as though the truth had feebly gotten caught somewhere between her heart and her throat. Unable to break free of the uneasiness that had quickly grown to suffocate the room, Shannon merely muttered out a quiet apology, and dismissed herself.

'_Beatrice wants Battler, doesn't she?'_

'_Just as Shannon wants George, and Kanon wants Jessica…'_

She closed the door in a hurry, attempting to recompose herself.

The only thing Sayo knew for certain was that she was entirely unsure of what she truly wanted.


End file.
